DBA Big Battles

What the...?

These are my private modifications to the DBA 2.0 Big Battle rules, for use in campaigns. If you look at my campaign rules, you'll see some or all of this page written into them, sometimes with additions to or omissions from the modifications listed here. Some of these modifications are just fixes to things I don't like in the DBA 2.0 rules as published. Some are because the Big Battles rules need a little adjustment to play faster or be more fun in a campaign context.

Overview

The player running the army in the campaign is the CinC player for the entire battle. He may consult the other players or not, but all decisions about the army's deployment and orders ultimately rest with him.

It is assumed that each army will be roughly twice the size of standard DBA army. Campaign effects may increase, decrease, or change the composition, but armies using these rules should have no more than 36 and no fewer than 15 elements.

Before the battle, the CinCs of each side divide their armies into commands, choose and set up the terrain, and either personally deploy or direct the deployment of the figures on the table.

Commands

There may not be more than 4 commands in an army unless there are more than 4 players on that side.
Each command must have at least 4 elements.
The CinC must control the CinC command, but assignment of the other commands is at the discretion of the CinC player.
Any player who brought an allied contingent to the battle controls that contingent as a separate allied command, and may not control any others. Each other player may control one or two commands.
Each player must nominate one element of each of his command(s) as the general's element for that command.
During battle, these rules apply:
1. Each army gets one pip die per command.
2. Allied generals, demoralized generals, and generals out of command range (1200p/600p beyond blocking terrain) of the CinC roll their own pip dice. The CinC rolls the pip dice for the other commands together, and allocates them as he wishes.
3. All elements may "march move"; that is, make a second, third, etc. move during a turn. Each move costs PIPs, and no march move may end closer than 300p to enemy elements. Wb and SCh may make a second move into contact in any turn, and Ps may make any number of moves into contact on the first bound, as stated in the rules. However, LH may not move closer than 300p to enemy during a march move.

Terrain

Divide BUAs into two types: unwalled and walled.

Treat unwalled BUAs as bad going that blocks line of sight and ranged fire, like a wood or orchard. They have no other defensive value or characteristics.

Treat walled BUAs as camps (especially if being used as a camp), but with a variable defensive value depending on the type of fortications:

+2 if built up, such as reinforced ditches, fences, walls, and hedges, improvised barricades of furniture, dirt and brush, palisades, or other prepared defenses such as might be erected in a few hours or days.

+3 if a well-built and designed wall of stone, wood, or faced earth, the type typically found surrounding motte-and-bailey castles, or many ancient and medieval minor towns and fortified villages.

+4 if a fully fortified castle or city, with carefully designed and heavily built walls, towers, and gates, lined with ramparts and battlements and easily manned and defended by a small number of fighters, and only carried with great difficulty by overwhelming numbers after a great deal of preparation and/or a long siege.

BUAs should never be bigger than a camp, unless you are playing out a carefully-balanced scenario involving an assault on or sally from a walled city or castle.

Ignore all rules about denizens. If your BUA is not acting as one side's camp, and the residents must be depicted, treat them as Hordes.

Comments? Questions? Mail your input to Ix (fathom at armory dot com).